I'm so impressed! I would have had a hard time not giving up on those artichokes or anything else! It all looks so great!

:-) Working on swap items is fun... I'm thoroughly enjoying my first swap. I just hope everything is good enough!!

I love these! This has just given me so many ideas for invites, cards, etc! Thanks!

RachaelD, I will try to get a pic of them with the cloth, but in my new apartment, I unfortunately had to split them up on two different walls for space reasons, so it won't have quite the same effect.

MissingWillow, I just sanded the drawer fronts so that the paint would stick. Also, I had to sand the tops pretty intensely because my boyfriend (his teenager self) had taken a knife to the top, making deep scratches and holes. So I sanded those down, spackled them, and then painted over it. As far as the paint, I will probably get a few groans of disapproval, but I just used craft paint. Like the stuff you buy for 50 cents a bottle.  It hasn't been the best either; after just moving it from my house to my apartment, there are a few scratches and knicks that I just KNOW are because I didn't use better paint. Haha

So I know this sounds weird, but I painted this (well just the background) with q-tips. I had taken a class revolving around teaching art to students in elementary school, and this was one technique we used, and I loved it! I feel like it gives a lot of control, and it's easy to cover up mistakes. I hand painted the words freehand. These are now up as a set in my new apartment. I hope you like them!







Thanks for reading!

These dressers belonged to my boyfriend, but he no longer needed them, so I decided to re-paint them and use them for myself in my apartment. The drawer fronts were a light/blonde wood finish, but I decided to make it match the comforter I have.


I typically have a blue cloth over the top that matches the teal-ish drawer, but I had packed it as I was preparing to move (hence the full trash can and randomly placed lamp). Also, the red-ish looking drawer is actually closer to magenta. I love having it in my room; it really brightens things up!

Thanks for reading!

So I had dabbled with oil pastels as a child, but I saw a sorority sister working on a project with some earlier this year and I was AMAZED at what she was doing with them! So, naturally, I HAD to try it for myself. I can't say they turned out as amazing as her art, but I am still proud of them nonetheless! Unfortunately, the colors didn't photograph perfectly, but hopefully you get the idea.





Thanks for reading!

So these pictures only show some of the plants that I helped plant in my Mom's front yard for Mother's Day. I had NEVER planted anything before this, and after finishing, I am realizing I LOVE gardening! So here are just a few parts of my mom's front yard.

This shows a lot of what we planted in the ground: eridgeron (sp?), short grasses, wallflower, dahlia, calla lilies, fountain grass, and hawthorn bushes (in the back), plus a bird bath! We also have geraniums, more hawthorn bushes, day lilies, thyme, rosemary, impatiens, and alyssum not pictured.


We also planted a Japanese maple. I love the color of the leaves.

Now onto the potted plants:

Impatiens!

Marigolds and lobelia!

Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes!

Snap Peas!

Habanero Peppers!

Mint!

And my favorite pot so far: basil, oregano, chives, and parsley! I have been using these herbs like CRAZY and they just keep growing more and more and more!

After doing all of this, I am planning on starting my own potted garden in my new apartment! I am so excited!

Thanks for reading!

Another possibly silly question... Where does the plant go in there? Is it on top of the plastic in there? If so, does that mean the pot is empty under the plastic?

Yeah, I definitely like the green/white ones better, but I really wanted to make matching booties for that hat, so I did plain yellow, too, more as a concession.
I found the pattern on ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/saartjes-bootees

These took me a couple hours each, but I also had to look up different increases/decreases, and figure out how to do them. It is really a pretty basic pattern once you get used to it (or maybe it was just ME who would have to get used to it...  )